Plummeting Skirmish

2019-04-19

Tired and exhausted Glen pressed the down button. And when there wasn’t an immediate ding, he groaned. After a long day, all Glen wanted to do was go home and collapse into his bed and sleep. Glen stumbled to the folding chair propped against the wall across from the elevator. He opened the chair and sat down, while he waited for the old and creeping elevator to arrive. And after what felt like an interminable wait, the elevator’s bell dinged. So, Glen stood up and put the chair back against the wall.

As the doors slid apart, Glen noticed a man and a woman riding in the car. He waited for a moment, but neither of them moved to get out of the car, so he walked in. With a glance at the floor buttons, Glen saw that the only floor selected was the ground floor. With a smile, he leaned against the back of the car and joined the other riders in a silent trip towards the lobby.

Two floors later the car stopped, and its doors opened. Glen looked towards the opening and saw a man glide into the car flashing everyone a smile. Glen returned the smile, but the man spun around. Glen shrugged his shoulders and waited for the cab to resume its march towards the lobby. As the car began to descend the new stranger pulled something out of his jacket and flicked his wrist. The little tube in his hand extended and the man hit the visible video camera, breaking it.

After the stranger neutralized the camera, he spun towards the other man and snarled, “Kent I want the key!”

The man backed as far into the corner as he could as he wrapped his arms around the suitcase as if it was a diamond. “You can’t have it, Jon, please don’t do this?”

But Jon ignored Kent’s plea and struck his arm with the baton. When the rod hit Kent, both he and the woman screamed. Jon turned towards the woman and Glen, and with rage burning in his eyes he growled. “If either of you wants to walk away from this mind your own business.” When he returned his attention to Kent, Jon noticed the briefcase was dangling from Kent’s arm. He grabbed Kent’s throat and lifted him up as he squeezed. “You had to make this difficult, didn’t you Kent!”

As Kent struggled for breath, he sputtered a few words. “Jon… you’re… only…”

But Jon squeezed tighter silencing the older man. “If I wanted to listen to you prattle on about something, I’d still be working with you Kent.”

As Kent’s fingers tried to pry the fingers off his neck, Glen made a decision. He couldn’t stand there and watch Jon choke Kent. So, he flung himself at Jon and threw a punch at Jon’s side. The force from the blow caused Jon’s grip on Kent’s throat to loosen. And Kent took full advantage of that distraction. He drew in a sharp breath as he struggled to free himself from Jon’s vice-like grip. Jon turned his head towards Glen, but before he could do anything, Glen lashed out at Jon’s side again. The blow forced Jon to take another step back and release Kent. “I warned you to stay out of this. It looks like the do-gooder cost everyone everything.”

Jon swung his baton at Glen’s skull, but Glen backed away avoiding the attack. But he stumbled and tripped. Jon adjusted his stance and struck at Glen again. This time Glen blocked the blow with his arm. When the baton crashed into Glen’s arm, the sickening crack of bone rang out a second before Glen’s howls of pain. Jon looked at the woman who was digging through her purse and Kent. The man was trying to get his phone, so Jon punched Kent in the side of his neck. Kent collapsed to the ground and abandoned his fight with the phone.

Jon turned his attention to the woman who was muttering, “It’s in her.”

Jon took his time as he placed his free hand against the wall next to her head and whispered into her ear. “I’m sorry about this.”

The woman’s hand clenched as she looked up into his eyes as she screamed, “I’m not.”

Jon opened his mouth to laugh, and she sprayed something all over his face and into his opened mouth. As the spray touched him, a howl of pain erupted from Jon. And within moments the attacker dropped to the ground as he writhed in pain crying out for relief. A moment later the elevator dinged as it stopped. The doors slid open, and one of the waiting security guards put his foot against the door. Stepping into the car the security guard took in the scene. “Mam are you all right?”

The woman pointed at the writhing man and answered. “That lunatic attacked us.”

“We saw him smash the cameras.”

She pointed at Glen and continued, “He has a broken arm.”

The guard pulled a radio to his mouth and passed on that information. As Jon was being escorted out of the elevator, the woman heard the sirens of emergency services. She knelt next to Glen. “That was very brave of you.”

Glen focused on her face as he spoke through the searing pain. “Doesn’t mean it was the smartest move. At least according to my broken arm.”

“Thank you for helping Kent,” she said after kissing Glen on the forehead. “It allowed me to find my mace.”

Glen forced a laugh through searing bursts of pain. “Glad you had that.”

“Of course, I did, after all, Jon didn’t realize that I was escorting the key, not Kent.”

Glen looked up at the woman, and as first responders continued their work he asked, “Who are you?”

With a warm smile, she squeezed Glen’s shoulder. “My name is Monica Harrell.” Releasing his shoulder, she walked out of the building and vanished.